The correlation between parents' vulnerable baby perception and presenting to health institutions

The present research was conducted as a descriptive, cross-sectional study to investigate the correlation between the vulnerable baby perception of parents with 0-1-year-old children and their presenting to health institutions. The study sample consists of 200 parents with babies aged between one week and one year who presented to the pediatric outpatient clinic of a hospital in Diyarbakır province. Permission from the ethics committee, institution, and parents was obtained to carry out the study. The data were obtained by the face-to-face interview method using the Sociodemographic Characteristics Information Form and the Vulnerable Baby Scale. The data were evaluated in the IBM SPSS V23 program using the independent sample t-test, correlation and linear regression analysis. Of the mothers participating in the study, 41.5% were in the 25-35 age group, 45% were high school graduates, 77.5% were housewives, and the average number of children was 2.5 ± 1.1. Of the babies, 53% were female, 72.5% had a birth weight of 2500-4000 grams, and 69% were born at 38-42 weeks. The mean Vulnerable Baby Scale score of the mothers participating in the study was 33.9±4.6. No statistically significant correlation was found between mothers' vulnerable baby perception scale score and the frequency of presenting to health institutions (p=0.477). This study determined that mothers' perception score of baby vulnerability was high. It is recommended that intervention studies be conducted on mothers' perception of baby vulnerability. Keywords: Vulnerable Baby Scale, parent, vulnerable baby, nursing